Red Hamilton

John "Red" Hamilton (1899-26 April 1934) was an Irish-Canadian criminal who was involved with bootlegging and bank robberies during the Great Depression.

Biography
John Hamilton was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada in 1899, the son of a Canadian father of Irish descent and an American mother of German descent. He lost two of his right fingers in a sledding accident, but this did not prevent him from becoming a criminal. Hamilton was sentenced to 25 years in prison for an Indiana gas station robbery in 1927, and he met John Dillinger, Russell Clark, Charles Makley, Harry Pierpont, and Homer Van Meter in prison. When they escaped in 1933, they formed their own robbery gang, taking part in numerous bank robberies from 1933 to 1934. On 23 April 1934, he was mortally wounded during a shootout with law enforcement officials in Hastings, Minnesota and he died of his wounds three days later; Dillinger buried his body in the woods to prevent the police from finding him.